Modern Society is becoming more sensitive to environmental concerns. This has lead to pressure to reuse lubricants, coolants and the like; as the present practise of dumping contaminates the environment.
Existing methods and apparatus for recycling used lubricants take the lubricants through a number of steps. The first step is passing the lubricants through a series of filters to remove particulate contaminants. The second step is heating the lubricants to decrease viscosity. The third step is passing the heated lubricants through a separation vessel which agitates the lubricants such that water entrained in the lubricants is released as steam. It has been determined that lubricants processed through these systems still have too high a content of water. In order to reduce water content, lubricants are repeatedly passed through the system, thereby achieving a better quality of Lubricants with each pass. When multiple passes through the system are employed, a limiting factor is the heating of the Lubricants. The time it takes to heat the lubricants unavoidably effects the flow rate.